GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

last match results

Found 2 definitions

1.       
   Quicken , v. t. [imp. & p. p. quickened ; p. pr. & vb. n. Quickening.] [AS. cwician. See Quick, a.]
    To make alive; to vivify; to revive or resuscitate, as from death or an inanimate state; hence, to excite; to, stimulate; to incite.
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   The mistress which I serve quickens what's dead.
   Shak.
   
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   Like a fruitful garden without an hedge, that quickens the appetite to enjoy so tempting a prize.
    South.
   
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   To make lively, active, or sprightly; to impart additional energy to; to stimulate; to make quick or rapid; to hasten; to accelerate; as, to quicken one's steps or thoughts; to quicken one's departure or speed.
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   (Shipbuilding) To shorten the radius of (a curve); to make (a curve) sharper; as, to quicken the sheer, that is, to make its curve more pronounced.
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   Syn. -- To revive; resuscitate; animate; reinvigorate; vivify; refresh; stimulate; sharpen; incite; hasten; accelerate; expedite; dispatch; speed.
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2.       
   Quicken, v. i.
   To come to life; to become alive; to become vivified or enlivened; hence, to exhibit signs of life; to move, as the fetus in the womb.
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   The heart is the first part that quickens, and the last that dies.
    Ray.
   
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   And keener lightnings quicken in her eye.
   Pope.
   
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   When the pale and bloodless east began
   To quicken to the sun.
   Tennyson.
   
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   To move with rapidity or activity; to become accelerated; as, his pulse quickened.
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